The concept of a smart city as a tool for ensuring the resilience of the urban ecosystem and social inclusion in the context of post-war recovery: a case study for Ukraine

Abstract

The essence of the smart city as an evolutionary continuation of the traditional urban space, where digital technologies are integrated into all spheres of the functioning of the urban ecosystem in order to adapt to uncertainty and instability and ensure the growth of the quality of life of the population, sustainable development, has been studied. It is substantiated that this approach to the organization of urban space is aimed at ensuring the resilience of urban ecosystems and social inclusiveness in the conditions of the post-war recovery of Ukraine.

The purpose of the article – is to investigate the potential of implementing the concept of smart solutions in the development of Ukrainian cities and regions and to substantiate the Ukrainian model of the development of smart cities in the context of post-war reconstruction and ensuring the resolution of urban ecosystems and social inclusiveness in the long term. The methodological basis of the study is a set of methods: system-structural and conceptual analysis for decomposition of the smart city ecosystem and structuring of its components comparative analysis and case study for the analysis of the world experience of building smart cities and trends in the development of smart solutions in Ukraine, abstract-logical generalization and modeling for the development of an algorithm for building smart cities in Ukraine in the context of post-war recovery. 

The Ukrainian model of smart solutions for the urban ecosystem is at the stage of formation and is gradually approaching European approaches, adapting to national socio-economic conditions and challenges of the post-war period. A consistent algorithm of actions aimed at the effective development of the national smart city model in the medium and long term has been developed. It is substantiated that in the conditions of post-war recovery, an important aspect of scaling the model is the development of human capital in the following directions: digital inclusion to overcome digital gaps, resocialization to adapt to the needs of veterans and persons with disabilities, as well as temporarily displaced persons, creation of digital conditions for remote work on attracting human resources to the regions that are recovering, formation of a new generation of managers able to make management decisions on the development of urban ecosystems based on open data and modeling tools.

It was found that the complexity of the smart city development approach is based on the fact that smart initiatives become part of long-term strategies for sustainable restoration and development of territories. Its integral components are the confrontation of cyber risks, innovative development, development of human and social capital, the ability to integrate technological innovations with institutional reforms, open governance and socially oriented development of the urban ecosystem, integration of the circular economy. It is these questions that should become the objects of further research.